Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the dividend policy of firms from a macroeconomic perspective. In order to do so inflation and real growth are also considered. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the relationship between dividends, corporate earnings, real...

Orthogonalised impulses are the standard way to isolate shocks to variables in a vector error correction model. While using the Cholesky decomposition to adjust interdependencies of the shocks, the ordering of the variables on the stage of estimation has a great impact on the resulting impulse...

Examining US data, this study uses techniques of cointegration analysis to test whether real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a useful hedge against inflation. Johansen tests seem to indicate that REITs are cointegrated with the general price level. This is true for a broad REIT index as...

The financial crisis has led to controversial discussions about the capital base of the European insurance industry. Dividend cuts have been suggested to preserve capital. However, some observers seem to fear that investors could interpret a reduction of dividends as a sign of future problems....

This study tests for a break in the persistence of EMU government bond yield spreads examining data from France, Italy and Spain and using German interest rates as a kind of benchmark. The results reported here provide evidence for breaks between 2006 and 2008. The persistence of the yield...

This study tests for a break in the persistence of EMU government bond yield spreads examining data from France, Italy and Spain and using German interest rates as a kind of benchmark. The results reported here provide evidence for breaks between 2006 and 2008. The persistence of the yield...